Little Alice got sick last night, and threw up for hours. She went through 5 sleepers and a pair of pajamas. The morning she had a lowgrade fever. By mid morning it was high enough for Tylenol. She took a 3 hour nap and this afternoon she was not very energetic during a short outing to the playground. I was holding her on the couch around 5pm and she just sacked out in my arms. I've got her in her crib now, and hoping she'll sleep for a good 12 hours and get to feeling better. Shawn and Max just left for a special Father's Day dinner over at Alicia and Loren's. I'm bummed we couldn't join them. But even more bummed that Alice isn't awake for dinner. I was looking forward to having a quiet little dinner with her tonight, just the two of us. I've got a burrito in the oven and when she is well she loves to pull off pieces of the flour tortilla. I had planned on making her some quinoa, too.
So sad when she doesn't have the energy to read or play.
On another note, it's Fathers Day. I even remembered to call my Dad and say hi. Shawn was able to take himself out to brunch and some meandering around Ballard today, he got a good 4 hours out to do his own thing. While Alice napped Max and I played little board and card games, it was fun.
I wanted to jot down some of my memories of Shawn as a father:
He cut both of the kids cords when they were born.
He held both of them as newborns for hours, cuddling and soothing them.
He took Max to his first movie theatre movie, Rio.
He takes Alice on little walks around the block where she can go at her own pace and stop to examine every flower petal.
He plays with the kids every single night, from the minute he walks in the door, so that I can prepare dinner in peace.
He plays with them after dinner, too. They get a solid 2.5 hours with him every night before bed.
And at bedtime he lovingly reads them stories every night. And then after the lights are out he tells Max special stories loosely based on Jack and the Beanstalk and stories from his own childhood.
One of my favorite things Shawn does is when he arrives at BF Day, our closest neighborhood playground, he runs across the soccer field to the kids with a huge smile on his face and they both always run to greet him. Lately we've been spending a lot of late afternoon hours there and it's really fun when Shawn meets us after work.
We love you, Shawn!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Photography Project Idea
I haven't done any photography in years. At least 5 years. I have my dad's old Yohika D 120mm portrait camera from the 1930's in a closet. Languishing. Negatives with images of my Dad's mom from the early 1960's in the case. I'd like to print some of those old photos. I'm thinking though, of dressing the kids up in something stylish (not sure what) and photographing them at the beautiful and nearby fremont peak park. then printing the negatives myself in a darkroom. We don't have any framed photos of them up, and I'd like to do something really unique as a keepsake. Now I guess I need to order some old film online as I don't know if you can even purchase 120mm film in stores anymore.
In other notes, we had a fun weekend. Shawn and Max bought a new computer, we had friends over for brunch, we had a bbq at my brother's house, we played at the park, and Max and I had some special time just the two of us shopping and going to his gymnastics class. We've got a busy week ahead. Max's last swim class is tomorrow night. We'll be babysitting for a friend tonight and Wednesday night, seeing old friends and going to the queen anne farmer's market thursday evening, and friday having friends over for dinner. Phew!
Work has been super busy but it's going well. Shawn just finished a huge project, and we'll be taking a weekend later this month for a much needed trip to Portland. We don't get out of dodge as often as we should.
Alice is cutting her 2 year molars and talking up a storm. Max is getting better at writing his name and is keeping us all busy with his elaborate imaginary super hero games :)
In other notes, we had a fun weekend. Shawn and Max bought a new computer, we had friends over for brunch, we had a bbq at my brother's house, we played at the park, and Max and I had some special time just the two of us shopping and going to his gymnastics class. We've got a busy week ahead. Max's last swim class is tomorrow night. We'll be babysitting for a friend tonight and Wednesday night, seeing old friends and going to the queen anne farmer's market thursday evening, and friday having friends over for dinner. Phew!
Work has been super busy but it's going well. Shawn just finished a huge project, and we'll be taking a weekend later this month for a much needed trip to Portland. We don't get out of dodge as often as we should.
Alice is cutting her 2 year molars and talking up a storm. Max is getting better at writing his name and is keeping us all busy with his elaborate imaginary super hero games :)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Childcare
Our regular sitter whom we really like is out this week recovering from sinus surgery. I've had to scramble to cobble together childcare coverage for 3 mornings this week. Today I had to use a woman in the neighborhood we've only used once before. The first time she sat for us she seemed fine. Not very energetic, but fine as an ocassional sitter. Today was a different story. we've modified Max's diet a bit to help with some digestive issues he's working through and I had asked her to take the kids out for a bit, even a simple walk in the neighborhood. I came home to find she had not prepared what I requested for snack or lunch, they hadn't gone out, toys were all over the house, and they'd watched an hour and a half of tv. Well, Max watched TV whle Alice played by herself and the sitter sat on the couch. LAME! (I'm glad Max is old enough to rat out a lame sitter, tell me about all the TV and tell me about all the snack food she let him eat) I feel scammed out of $70.
Somedays my little part time job that brings in a very small amount of income does not seem worth it and these was one of those days. As soon as the sitter left I got the kids ready to go out and we enjoyed a walk to our neighborhood Fremont Peak Park. We played hide and seek and ran around for an hour. Alice was tired (Max wasn't ready to come home) so we headed back for her nap. Then Max and I had some fun playing a computer game and hanging out pretending to have a slumber party in me and Shawn's room. I sure love how snuggly he can be when he gets some one on one time with his Mom :). He's growing up so fast that it was really sweet to have this time with him on my lap where he showed me how to play a game on the iPad! This kid knows way more about computer games than I do. He's such a fast learner.
He said something to me yesterday as I was driving that I need to write down. We were on the way to meet our friends at the library and he began to reminisce.
Max "Mom, Alice and I drank up all your milk. You looked different when you nursed us. When I was a baby you had curly hair. Curly hair looks like waves. Like the wave statues at the Locks" (Ballard Locks). He is so sweet, I just love the things he says.
Sure, he and I have our power struggles over going pee, picking up toys, and eating brocolli but I sure love this guy and I'm glad that even though I'm working I get to spend a lot of time with him and Alice. This afternoon I actually woke Alice out of a heavy sleep so we could go to our nature school p-patch garden. Both kids placed the rocks they painted in the border of the garden bed, Alice got to swing on a large swing with 3 other children, and Max got to spray a big garden house and water some plants. Max also got to pull a radish and pick lettuce. He delighted in learning from his teacher Sara how to pinch and pull lettuce leaves. He was beaming as he carried the bag of lettuce back to the car, announcing to the folks parked behind us that we were going home to make salad. He said "I don't like salad but my mom and Shawn do and I'm going to wash it for them because there are little slugs on the lettuce!"
Although I was pretty upset by the lame babysitter morning I'm glad I managed to salvage the afternoon and get them out twice. It's so very important to me that they get out and run around and see their friends. I'll be talking with my two bosses next week and am seriously considering cutting my work days down to three a week. I'm not making that much anyway, and the money I have brought home thus far has helped us replace our car. Now that's taken care of I feel like we can breathe a little easier and I want some more time this summer with the kids for outings.
Somedays my little part time job that brings in a very small amount of income does not seem worth it and these was one of those days. As soon as the sitter left I got the kids ready to go out and we enjoyed a walk to our neighborhood Fremont Peak Park. We played hide and seek and ran around for an hour. Alice was tired (Max wasn't ready to come home) so we headed back for her nap. Then Max and I had some fun playing a computer game and hanging out pretending to have a slumber party in me and Shawn's room. I sure love how snuggly he can be when he gets some one on one time with his Mom :). He's growing up so fast that it was really sweet to have this time with him on my lap where he showed me how to play a game on the iPad! This kid knows way more about computer games than I do. He's such a fast learner.
He said something to me yesterday as I was driving that I need to write down. We were on the way to meet our friends at the library and he began to reminisce.
Max "Mom, Alice and I drank up all your milk. You looked different when you nursed us. When I was a baby you had curly hair. Curly hair looks like waves. Like the wave statues at the Locks" (Ballard Locks). He is so sweet, I just love the things he says.
Sure, he and I have our power struggles over going pee, picking up toys, and eating brocolli but I sure love this guy and I'm glad that even though I'm working I get to spend a lot of time with him and Alice. This afternoon I actually woke Alice out of a heavy sleep so we could go to our nature school p-patch garden. Both kids placed the rocks they painted in the border of the garden bed, Alice got to swing on a large swing with 3 other children, and Max got to spray a big garden house and water some plants. Max also got to pull a radish and pick lettuce. He delighted in learning from his teacher Sara how to pinch and pull lettuce leaves. He was beaming as he carried the bag of lettuce back to the car, announcing to the folks parked behind us that we were going home to make salad. He said "I don't like salad but my mom and Shawn do and I'm going to wash it for them because there are little slugs on the lettuce!"
Although I was pretty upset by the lame babysitter morning I'm glad I managed to salvage the afternoon and get them out twice. It's so very important to me that they get out and run around and see their friends. I'll be talking with my two bosses next week and am seriously considering cutting my work days down to three a week. I'm not making that much anyway, and the money I have brought home thus far has helped us replace our car. Now that's taken care of I feel like we can breathe a little easier and I want some more time this summer with the kids for outings.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Alice's words
Alice is almost 21 months old. Here are her current words:
Hi
Bye
Duck
Quack
Dog
Cat
Gagilla (gorilla)
bath
no
yeah
"baba ma" (brother Max)
Mamma
Dadda
Uh-oh
oh no
moo
that
this
applesauce
cracker
egg
cheese
She is running, climbing, reading, smiling, jumping, and mostly jovial. She delights in finding her baseball cap each morning and putting it on backwards. She waves "bye-bye" to me in the morning when I leave for work, and runs to me when I get home. I love it. Today during a fun family outing at the zoo she delighted in petting goats.
Now the little one is sacked out for a nap while Shawn and Max are on their weekly trip to the library. I'm about to lay down too!
Very busy week with many hours at work. We're hoping to get away to Portland in a few weeks for a few days. In other news, we sold our old Honda which Max named "Norman" this morning. I took Max outside to say goodbye to the car. He rummaged through it one last time making sure there weren't any toys left in it, and had one last moment in the drivers seat. He held my hand and cried as the new owners drove it away. We came back to the house and he put his energy into some art projects, cranking out a fun collage with construction paper and glue, and then he and Alice did some watercolors together. I sure love these 2 kids :)
Hi
Bye
Duck
Quack
Dog
Cat
Gagilla (gorilla)
bath
no
yeah
"baba ma" (brother Max)
Mamma
Dadda
Uh-oh
oh no
moo
that
this
applesauce
cracker
egg
cheese
She is running, climbing, reading, smiling, jumping, and mostly jovial. She delights in finding her baseball cap each morning and putting it on backwards. She waves "bye-bye" to me in the morning when I leave for work, and runs to me when I get home. I love it. Today during a fun family outing at the zoo she delighted in petting goats.
Now the little one is sacked out for a nap while Shawn and Max are on their weekly trip to the library. I'm about to lay down too!
Very busy week with many hours at work. We're hoping to get away to Portland in a few weeks for a few days. In other news, we sold our old Honda which Max named "Norman" this morning. I took Max outside to say goodbye to the car. He rummaged through it one last time making sure there weren't any toys left in it, and had one last moment in the drivers seat. He held my hand and cried as the new owners drove it away. We came back to the house and he put his energy into some art projects, cranking out a fun collage with construction paper and glue, and then he and Alice did some watercolors together. I sure love these 2 kids :)
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